And then, as Sheena was lost in the darkness, she knew that her cross was still there and was protecting and holding her –
*
It must have been a long time later that her tired mind struggled back into consciousness. Now the chanting and exaltation had finished and the incense had died down to remain only a fragrance on the air.
Someone was sponging her body clean of the blood and drying her with a soft towel.
She tried to move and found that her body was still paralysed and yet there was feeling in it. She could feel the black velvet beneath her, she could feel that the unseen hands which had sponged her were covering her nakedness with something silken and she could hear voices talking in low but normal tones.
“Will you carry her?” she heard the Queen ask and heard the Marquis reply,
